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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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President Donald Trump has signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship for certain children born in the U.S.
"On a prospective basis, the federal government will not recognize automatic birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens born in the United States," a White House official told the press on Monday.
Most legal experts have described the order as unconstitutional. Several immigrants' rights advocacy groups have already sued the Trump administration over the order.
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Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment via email outside of normal office hours.
Why It Matters
Ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants has become a central focus of the administration's hard-line immigration agenda, following Trump's decision to sign an executive order aimed at dismantling the decades-old precedent.
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What Is Birthright Citizenship?
Birthright citizenship is the legal right for individuals born in a country to acquire citizenship regardless of their parents' nationality or legal status.
The Constitution states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
What Is the 14th Amendment?
The constitutional guarantee of citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil originates from the 14th Amendment and was upheld by the Supreme Court in the pivotal 1898 case United States v. Wong Kim Ark. In this decision, the Court determined that a man born in San Francisco to Chinese parents was entitled to U.S. citizenship, setting a lasting precedent that has shaped immigration law ever since.
Several lawmakers, including former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, have acquired U.S. citizenship in this manner, according to the American Immigration Council.
Why Does Donald Trump Want to End Birthright Citizenship?
Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, has said he doesn't think birthright citizenship is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
Trump said he "absolutely" plans to end birthright citizenship during an interview on Meet The Press.
"We're going to have to get it changed. We'll maybe have to go back to the people. But we have to end it. We're the only country that has it, you know," Trump said in early December.
Polling by Quinnipiac conducted between December 12 and 16 showed most voters did not support Trump's birthright citizenship policy.
Of 924 voters surveyed, 63 percent supported maintaining birthright citizenship, allowing any child born in the U.S. to receive an American passport. In contrast, 29 percent believed the policy should be revised to exclude automatic eligibility for children of noncitizens.
Can Trump Succeed?
The executive order directs government agencies to no longer issue citizenship documentation to babies born in the U.S. without at least one parent being a U.S citizen or a permanent resident. It appears to be targeted at children, both of undocumented immigrants and of parents with a temporary visa.
While executive orders can be overturned by future presidents, amending the Constitution requires bipartisan backing.
One way to ending birthright citizenship would require a constitutional amendment, a complicated process. An executive order by itself would not be enough.
To propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate is necessary, followed by ratification from 38 state legislatures.
Instead, with this executive order, the Trump administration is likely looking for a long court battle with the aim that the Supreme Court reinterpret the precedent set in United States v. Wong Kim Ark.
Which Countries Grant Birthright Citizenship?
Trump previously said that the U.S. is the only country with birthright citizenship. However, according to the Library of Congress, more than 30 nations, including Canada and Brazil, have adopted a similar "right of soil" policy, though the rules for granting citizenship vary.
Unconditional birthright citizenship is a policy where countries automatically grant citizenship to individuals born within their borders, regardless of their parents' nationality or legal status, including in Canada and Mexico.
More than 30 nations, including Canada and Brazil, have adopted a similar "right of soil" policy, though the rules for granting birthright citizenship vary.
In Europe, countries like Germany and France offer citizenship to children born on their soil only if their parents meet certain residency or legal status requirements.
What People Are Saying
Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement after President Trump signed the executive order: "This is unconstitutional."
FWD.us, an immigration and criminal justice advocacy group founded by Mark Zuckerberg, said in a statement: "Today's executive actions on immigration move us quickly in the wrong direction. Eliminating safe, orderly, legal immigration avenues like humanitarian parole and the U.S. refugee admissions program will only drive people to choose irregular migration options. Attempting to reinterpret the 14th Amendment's clear guarantee of birthright citizenship is unconstitutional and would harm—not help—immigrants fully contributing to this country."
Brad Jones, a professor of political science at the University of California Davis, told Newsweek. Birthright citizenship has been interpreted, repeatedly, as an integral part of the 14th Amendment. Trump isn't the first to weaponize birthright citizenship but he has been the most successful at bringing this issue to a boil.
"Repeated references to 'anchor babies' and other dehumanizing terms plays well to his large base of supporters. The problem Trump and people like Tom Homan face, however, is the high hurdle posed by the U.S. Constitution. Whatever Trump or Tom Homan think about the legality of birthright citizenship is irrelevant until some kind of plausible litigation makes its way through the court system.
"The concern there is that if a test case is made and if that test case made it to the Supreme Court, then all bets are off with the current Court, a Court that has shown itself to disregard long-standing precedents. Of course alternatively, a Constitutional Amendment could be proposed to revoke birthright citizenship, but this would be a very long, arduous path and one that I think would fail.
"I think the tack Trump will take is to challenge the legality of the provision. As I said, if a challenge were to reach the Supreme Court, then there is a decent chance the provision for birthright citizenship could be altered or perhaps even eliminated. I do not see it as very likely that this will happen, but then again, it is a murky proposition to attempt to predict outcomes in his administration.
**Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement: "**Denying citizenship to U.S.-born children is not only unconstitutional — it's also a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values. Birthright citizenship is part of what makes the United States the strong and dynamic nation that it is. This order seeks to repeat one of the gravest errors in American history, by creating a permanent subclass of people born in the U.S. who are denied full rights as Americans,"
Trump said in a May 2023 campaign video: "On Day One of my new term in office, I will sign an executive order making clear to federal agencies that under the correct interpretation of the law, going forward, the future children of illegal immigrants will not receive automatic U.S. citizenship."
What Happens Next
The American Civil Liberties Union, with others, said on Monday that it had filed a lawsuit charging the Trump administration with "flouting the Constitution's dictates, congressional intent, and longstanding Supreme Court precedent."
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